Cannot Be Tamed
by Val-Creative
Summary: During their last summer break together at the university, Shiro and Keith and a very reluctant Lance all decide to go bungee-jumping. Shiro remembers his first time — the absolute, sheer terror and hysteria, fading into a lightheaded, spinny delight, when all that's left is a sense of pride and excitement and relief. /Modern AU. Shklance. Oneshot.


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Shiro thinks he hears the low, ominous rumbling of thunder, just beyond the mountain-pass.

The forecast via Twitter weather predictions says any torrential rain or hail would remain south of them. Back in the direction of their university grounds and the rest of civilization. He's not worried. Shiro glances up, fanning out his sleeveless violet tee, but doesn't hear it again.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate heights?" Lance speaks up, grimacing when the steel-and-wire bridge underneath them creaks occasionally. He's strapped in double-harnesses, just like Keith who half-circles him and frowns contemplatively, tightening the bungee-cords around Lance's ankles. To Shiro, Lance's nerves seem a little overstimulated and exhausted, _frayed_.

(Maybe it _is_ Shiro's fault. Kinda. He didn't mean to plan out their last break together with copious amounts of overnight, flirtatious drinking, and then a bungee jumping session right at dawn.)

Lance threw up his pomegranate-flavored breakfast oats an hour and a half ago, and then managed to keep down a two handfuls of lukewarm water from the sink, without colliding into Keith or Shiro exiting the glass-made stall in their motel room, pleasantly loose from their drawn-out, steamy shower.

He's gone a bit pale again, and it probably doesn't help that Keith treats him more _roughly_ than usual. "It's just a short drop," Keith tells Lance dismissively. "It's nothing to freak out about."

For a brief moment, Lance's fear vanishes, replacing with irritation.

"Yeah, okay, just a short _skull-crushing_ drop right onto some watery rocks," he grumbles.

Keith rolls his eyes when he thinks nobody is looking, but with a softened, good-natured intent. Shiro hasn't seen them actually _fight_ each other since Lance's freshmen orientation. Keith volunteered to be the recruiter of the Art Club's table for the weekend, to prove to Shiro he could be _responsible_ and _levelheaded_ enough to date somebody like Shiro himself, but his temper won out when Lance backhandedly commented on Keith's poster, snickering along with two other freshmen girls clustering around Lance.

Both Keith and Lance ended up with bruised-up, aching knuckles and a mutually held respect to steer clear of each other. It didn't last. Shiro caught his oldest friend brooding in the middle of dinner, itching at Lance's love-bites on his throat through the material of Lance's navy turtleneck Keith accidentally slipped on.

"Don't be such a wiener."

Shiro's lips press together, suppressing a grin when Lance makes a choking, offended noise, his blue eyes widening when Keith smirks right in his face, his fingers gripping and pulling experimentally on the gigantic, dark harness-straps around Lance's hips. "You're the _wiener_ , you… wiener…" Lance says thickly, watching Keith slightly in awe when the other man nuzzles the tips of their noses.

"You two gonna be chill or what?" Shiro asks from the background, hitching an eyebrow.

"I'm chill," Keith insists, stepping away and patting his sides. "Lance is gonna have kittens."

"Oh my god—I'm _fine_! Will you just—!" Another loud, mildly aggravated noise escapes Lance's mouth, as he takes a deep and steadying breath, not rolling away from Keith's hand patting comfortably on his back. "Listen—I'm a dancer, Shiro," he explains, gesturing out. " _Ballet_. Not a thrill-seeking adventure kind of guy who hangs over the cliffs or does kayaking into a wild, raging river or some dumb white people shit like Keith does all the time." Lance pins a glare on Keith who narrows his eyes and snorts in amusement. "It's _summer_ —couldn't we have gone fruit picking? Hiking? Swimming?"

Shiro rests his non-prosthetic hand to Lance's shoulder. "You'll be fine," he says confidently, feeling Lance's tension gradually unravel. "We got your harnesses and I checked over the equipment myself."

"I'll go first," Keith murmurs, toneless and without an ounce of doubt.

"Good idea, Keith. Show him how it's done."

There's plenty of yellow, huge cords for their amateur bungee jumping to be safe as can be. Lance inches towards the bridge's edge uncertainly, clinging to a steel-beam when the breeze picks up, cool and gusting upwards. Shiro bends down to fit Keith's ankle harnesses and the towels for cushioning, laughing quietly when Keith bends forward too and presses a dutiful, long kiss into his white hair.

As soon as he's done, Keith's mouth quirks. He tilts his head backwards, and then his spine, contorting into a graceful, effortlessly arc, and falling. Shiro hears Lance gasp out, but this time without _fear_.

"Oh man, that's not fair—he's a _natural_ ," Lance shouts, beaming when he and Shiro's boyfriend twirls on the way down, finally pulled taut by the cords, bouncing freely and hollering in exhilaration, arms outstretched towards the river's water. Shiro feels it contagiously burrowing inside him, warming him.

"Keith has been doing bungee-jumping longer than any of us," he reminds Lance. Shiro grins harder when the other man clutches onto Shiro's waist instead, grinning back. "You're gonna be great too, Lance."

The adrenaline rush has already kicked in for Keith, as he eagerly climbs back up, aided with Shiro and Lance tugging him up towards the bridge's platform. His hands bracket Lance's surprised, wind-chapped face, when Keith swoops in for a messy kiss and shuts his eyes, bumping teeth and jaws and chins hungrily.

Shiro enjoys the view for a little while, until he feels Keith do the same with him, nudging their mouths together. He sucks in air while pressing his tongue inside Shiro's mouth and whines out, Keith's body quivering when both of Shiro's thumbs stroke up Keith's bright red tee, exposing his midsection, and Lance's fingers touch over Keith's nape, combing through his dark, sweaty hair affectionately.

"Definitely ready for this," Lance says gleefully, waiting for them to separate, and Shiro redoes the ankle-harnesses, this time for Lance and helping him scoot to the platform's outermost edge.

In a blink, he's nervous again, gazing out to the treetops and water below. Shiro whispers reassurances in his ear, rubbing over his shoulder-blade. Lance glances to him, and then Keith staring at him, noticing the nearly identical gleams of humor and exasperation in their eyes. He chooses to go front-wise for his dive, or so Lance tells Shiro, but not before Lance puts his thumb up to his nose and wiggles his fingers playfully at Keith, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue in a grotesque manner.

Shiro remembers his first time — the absolute, sheer terror and hysteria, fading into a lightheaded, spinny _delight_ , when all that's left is a sense of pride and excitement and relief.

It's written all over Lance, his dark brown hair moist and sticking up all over the place from the free-fall, as soon as he breathlessly returns into Shiro and Keith's arms, hiccup-laughing. Most of Lance's experience had been shrieking and flailing, dissolving into agitated, emotional laughter.

"Well?"

Lance shakes his head, exposing his teeth in a big, astonished smile when he half-kisses Shiro and presses his temple against him. "I… think I mighta peed myself," he admits, slumping down.

Thunder rumbles and soars within the mass of grey, heavy clouds above them, erupting into a summer rainstorm, pouring down. Getting Lance and Keith out of their harnesses is no easy task, due to the lack of visibility. They retreat off the bridge, towards the muddy, slick road and Lance's car. Shiro hears himself panting, groaning when a dripping-wet Keith flops onto his lap in the backseat, followed by Lance crushing them, wheezing and chuckling when Keith's leg squirms out, attempting to push him off.

The harsh, thunking noise of the rain and hail muffles them out. Heat and dampness and all Shiro can see is a sapphire-bright blue, where Lance's tee bundles in Keith's hands, and god, he's _ready_ too.

(So little time before summer break is over.)

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* * *

 _Voltron isn't mine. Hello hello! I was asked to do a pitch hit for the Shklance Summer Exchange over on Tumblr and now I get to share it! This was for Leandra (sasuhinasno1fan) and based on their prompts I went with a cross between university/college AU with dancer AU (although referenced) and then Sklance as pairing! They wanted no angst or death or injury and that's cool. Hope you like it, Leandra! And everybody else too! Comments/thoughts are super duper appreciated! :)  
_


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